The Harmattan left quickly this year, before I really had a chance to enjoy it. But I will forgive Mother Earth, I suppose, since the weather that followed has been really pretty great. Right now we are in a cycle where it rains every other day; in the mid to late afternoon, a thunderstorm with weak winds passes through and gives us a good 30 minute soaking. The forest is green and lush, and, as you might expect, the mushrooms love this weather.

We've been eating wild mushrooms every day this week. The girls we live with kept coming home with bowlfuls of them, plenty for the 10 people who live in the house.

After the thunderstorm today Wasila, a twelve-year-old girl in the house, invited Mus and I to go mushroom hunting with her. Little five-year-old Yusif tagged along, as well as the neighbor's dog. Little did I know that the hunt would start in our very own yard.

In all the hunting, I only ever saw two kinds of fungi- these edible mushrooms and a type of shelf fungi. Apparently, these edible fungi are everywhere- all over the lawns and in the forest.

After we'd covered the lawn and the gardens down the street, we had a respectable bowlful. But we were really into it and wanted to continue. So I changed into jeans and sneakers and we climbed over the wall to head to the forest.

Climbing over the wall was fun in and of itself. Yusif and I both had trouble getting over, so Mus had to lift us both over. My cut-up hands made it so I couldn't put any weight on them, which was a special liability. Wasila lifted the neighbor's dog over the wall so he could join us.

We spent the rest of the afternoon running up and sliding down the muddy hill behind the house. We were like a boisterous pack of wolves on an Easter Egg Hunt. One of us would spot a clump of mushrooms and start running, and all the others would run to try to get their first. We were competing for the title of “Best Fungus Hunter.” The dog had no idea what we were hunting, of course, but he's never had so much fun. Like any dog, the social excitement and flurry of activity thrilled him. And even the rest of the family, seated in the backyard, had a great time watching our antics and mishaps in the mud.

The Mighty Hunter Return!

Mama managed to find all these mushrooms in our wake- in our frantic rush, we missed A LOT! (And yes, this little girl's actual name is Mama- that's actually quite common here.)